Phillip Island: Series Friday qualifying report

Smrz powers to the front in Phillip Island Friday qualifying
Jakub Smrz powered to the top of the timesheets in first qualifying
for the Australian Round of the 2009 Superbike World Championship at
Phillip Island. The 25 year-old Czech rider was...

Smrz powers to the front in Phillip Island Friday qualifying

Jakub Smrz powered to the top of the timesheets in first qualifying
for the Australian Round of the 2009 Superbike World Championship at
Phillip Island. The 25 year-old Czech rider was quickest around the
spectacular 4.445 km circuit with a time of 1 minute 32.312 seconds
on a 'customer' Guandalini Ducati, a fraction ahead of Noriyuki Haga,
replacement for world champion Troy Bayliss in the factory Ducati Xerox
team. An excellent third place was notched up by Britain's Leon Haslam
on a private Stiggy Racing Honda, while the Suzuki Alstare pairing of
Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama looked strong in fourth and fifth.

"For me, Phillip Island is almost the best circuit in the world. It
is easy for me to make a good lap here. The bike is a good bike and
95% similar to last year's so I have been able to get on the pace very
quickly. For sure, I have a lot of confidence with the tyre, even in
these hot conditions," said Smrz.

The starting grid for Sunday's two races will be assigned tomorrow with
the new Superpole 'knock-out' formula for the top 20 qualified riders
over three 12-minute sessions.

The first day of the 2009 campaign, which will see 14 rounds held in
5 continents, took place in ideal weather conditions, with air/track
temperatures of 33o./55o.C at the start of Q1. In the cooler conditions
of the morning's free practice session (25o./35o.C), the quickest time
was set by Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) in 1'32"752. The afternoon
session saw the Suzukis move to the front, while Spies finished in
eighth place, behind Shinya Nakano, making his WSB debut for Aprilia,
and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox). Max Biaggi's eleventh place doesn't
reflect the true potential of the Italian rider as his time was set on
used tyres to simulate a race distance.

As well as the return of Aprilia after seven years, today saw the
first day of true championship activity for BMW in its debut season
in Superbike. The German manufacturer finished the day in sixteenth
position with Troy Corser and in twentieth with Ruben Xaus, but with
the Australian just over a second off the pace of the provisional
polesitter, the result is encouraging.

Today's first qualifying session saw the top 14 riders separated by just
under a second, with less than two between Smrz and Tommy Hill (Honda
Althea), twenty-first on the provisional grid.

The first fallers of the new season were David Salom (Kawasaki
Pedercini) and Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Honda) in the morning
session, with Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Pedercini), Corser and Shane Byrne
(Sterilgarda Ducati) all going down in qualifying, but without any
serious consequences.

FIM Supersport World Championship

The Supersport runners also got their 2009 campaign underway, with
little change from the previous years as Hannspree Ten Kate Honda set
the early pace. Quickest time of the day went to reigning champion
Andrew Pitt, who powered to an impressive 1 minute 34.833 seconds;
the other champion within the Dutch team's ranks, Kenan Sofuoglu, was
just 0.006 seconds behind. The provisional front row is completed by
Frenchman Fabien Foret on the first Yamaha, and evergreen Australian
Garry McCoy, who looked impressive on his home track with the
three-cylinder Triumph. Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda), McCoy e
Massimo Roccoli (Intermoto Czech Honda) all had crashes today.